Homesteading

While keeping bees certainly isn't rocket science, doing it properly does involve decent levels of understanding, commitment, and attention to detail. Getting the basics right is essential, and this demands a solid appreciation of important areas such as hives management, breed choice, and health requirements. There is plenty to think about for those getting their first bees, and careful planning is the key to a successful initial experience. One thing that complicates matters is the bees' ability to disguise problems. Although this might seem a useful ability, it actually makes recognizing trouble in the crucial, early stages that much more difficult, even for experienced owners. And although bees are remarkably resilient creatures, they remain vulnerable to predators, disease and climate changes. There is plenty of potential for things to go wrong and, unfortunately, it's always the bees that suffer when problems strike.

Whether you're a newcomer or an old hand, The Beekeeper's Problem Solver provides the information you need to nip problems in the bud and, better still, avoid them in the first place. Let longtime bee keeper and apiary expert James E. Tew guide you through 100 common problems faced by beekeepers, spelling out in clear and simple terms what the underlying cause is and how to solve it. Each one is tackled in depth, with photographs and diagrams, as well as a wide range of practical tips and useful insights. The problems are divided into ten chapters covering the main areas of beekeeping, from health to housing and parasites to predators. A subject-specific index is also included for easy reference.

Raising bees is becoming increasingly popular in backyards and on farms large and small-and it's easy to see why. These resourceful insects produce organic honey and beeswax, all while constantly providing natural aid to the health of your yard and garden. And even better, bees are easy to keep, especially with the expert instruction of The Beginner's Guide to Beekeeping. Beginning with the basics, seasoned beekeepers Daniel and Samantha Johnson answer all of a prospective beekeeper's questions on how to set up, care for, and harvest your very own bee colonies. With the help of this comprehensive DIY guide, raising bees can be an enjoyable and accessible backyard pastime for gardeners, crafters and cooks everywhere.

The Bio-Integrated Farm is a 21st-century manual for managing nature’s resources. This groundbreaking book brings “system farming” and permaculture to a whole new level. Author Shawn Jadrnicek presents new insights into permaculture, moving beyond the philosophical foundation to practical advanced designs based on a functional analysis. Holding his designs to a higher standard, Jadrnicek’s components serve at least seven functions (classical permaculture theory only seeks at least two functions). With every additional function a component performs, the design becomes more advanced and saves more energy.

Renowned outdoors expert and New York Times best-selling author Dave Canterbury provides you with all you need to know about packing, trapping, and preparing food for your treks and wilderness travels. Whether you're headed out for a day hike or a weeklong expedition, you'll find everything you need to survive (and eat well) out in the wild. Canterbury makes certain you're set by not only teaching you how to hunt and gather, but also giving you recipes to make while on the trail. Complete with illustrations to accompany his instructions and a full-color photo guide of plants to forage and those to avoid, this is the go-to reference to keep in your pack. The Bushcraft Field Guide to Trapping, Gathering, and Cooking in the Wild helps you achieve the full outdoor experience. With it, you'll be prepared to set off on your trip and enjoy living off the land.

Eric Toensmeier argues that agriculture—specifically, the subset of practices known as “carbon farming”—can, and should be, a linchpin of a global climate solutions platform. Carbon farming is a suite of agricultural practices and crops that sequester carbon in the soil and in aboveground biomass.

The information you need to nip problems in the bud … and, better still, avoid them in the first place. Let longtime chicken keeper and poultry expert Chris Graham guide you through 100 common problems faced by chicken keepers. You'll discover in clear and simple terms what the underlying cause is and how to solve it.

The Community-Scale Permaculture Farm describes not only the history of the D Acres project, but its evolving principles and practices that are rooted in the land, its inhabitants and the joy inherent in collective empowerment.

For almost 20 years, D Acres of New Hampshire has challenged and expanded the common definition of a farm. As an educational center that researches, applies and teaches skills of sustainable living and small-scale organic farming, D Acres serves more than just a single function to its community. By turns it is a hostel for travelers to northern New England, a training center for everything from metalworking and woodworking to cob building and seasonal cooking, a gathering place for music, poetry, joke-telling and potluck meals, and much more.

While this book provides a wide spectrum of practical information on the physical systems designed into a community-scale homestead, author Josh Trought also reviews the economics and organizational particulars that D Acres has experimented with over the years.

The D Acres model envisions a way to devise a sustainable future by building a localized economy that provides more than seasonal produce, a handful of eggs and green appliances. With the goal of perennial viability for humanity within their ecosystem, D Acres is attempting an approach to sustainability that encompasses practical, spiritual and ethical components. In short: They are trying to create a rural community ecology that evolves in perpetuity.

No other book contains such a wealth of innovative ideas and ways to make your farm or homestead not only more sustainable, but more inclusive of, and beneficial to, the larger community. Readers will find information on such subjects as:

Working with pigs to transform forested landscapes into arable land

Designing and building unique, multifunctional farm and community spaces using various techniques and materials

Receiving maximum benefits and yields for the farm without denigrating resources or the regional ecology

Implementing a fair and effective governance structure

Constructing everything from solar dehydrators and cookers to tree houses and ponds

Connecting and partnering with the larger community beyond the farm

Emphasizing collaboration, cooperation and mutualism, this book promises to inspire a new generation of growers, builders, educators, artists and dreamers who are seeking new and practical ways to address today’s problems on a community scale.

Wild meat, hunted in a responsible way, is one of the most healthful, sustainable foods possible. Depending on how it is done, hunting can be as local, intimate and humane as it gets. And aside from this, it demands the hunter enter a world of awareness, wildness, life and death that we have lost connection to as a culture.

The Compassionate Hunter's Guidebook is a guide for those that come to the act of hunting with pure intentions, motivated by a desire for healthy food that comes directly from the land where they live. This practical manual suggests that hunting is not a "sport" and the animals whose lives are taken are not "game." It combines a deep, philosophical exploration of the ethics of killing with detailed instructions on every step of the process including:

Understanding your prey

Tools, techniques and preparation

The act of the hunt

From forest to table: processing, preserving and preparing your kill

A unique and comprehensive, fully illustrated guide to the complexity, ethics and spirit of the hunt, The Compassionate Hunter is a must-read for beginning and experienced hunters alike. It will appeal to anyone who wishes to delve more deeply into the complex, humbling and ultimately profound reality of our relationship with the food that nourishes us.

With structures ideally suited for any weather condition, The Complete Survival Shelters Handbook presents emergency shelter designs built from a variety of elements, including 100 percent gathered items, a combination of natural and store-bought supplies and even durable construction materials.

CLEARANCE ITEM. PREVIOUS RETAIL PRICE WAS $14.95 AVAILABLE ONLY WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

Although the American cowboy has long been a favorite subject for novelists, filmmakers and illustrators, too often the picture painted of them bears little relation to reality. Philip Ashton Rollins, who lived in the West on and off between 1892 and 1924, set out to create a more accurate portrait of this enduring icon. Based on what he himself witnessed, this fascinating study discusses what exactly makes a cowboy, as well as cowboy weaponry, clothing, saddles and equipment; the "cowboy character"; and a cowboy's work. In addition, Rollins describes the history of ranching in the United States, the raising of horses and cattle, livestock rustling, and more.

This remarkable book is perhaps the most accurate and detailed description of the real-life American cowboy ever written. Here Rollins describes the beginnings of ranching in America, and how horses and cattle were raised. He details, with flair and expertise, everything about the cowboy and his work — his tools and weapon, his clothes and tack, the specialized skills he perfected, and the life he led while on the range. He explains that there was really no typical American cowboy and definitively separates fact from legend. A wonderful resource for anybody who lives or loves the cowboy life, this book is an incredible record of these men, their lives and their work.

About the author
Philip Ashton Rollins, a graduate of Princeton, traveled extensively in the West and wrote about its people and their work.

Long embraced by corporations that are driven only by the desire for profit, industrial agriculture wastes precious resources and spews millions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere each year, exacerbating climate change and threatening the very earth and water on which we depend. However, this dominant system, from which Americans obtain most of their food, is being supplanted by a new paradigm.

The Emergent Agriculture is a collection of 14 thematic essays on sustainability viewed through the lens of farming. Arguing that industrial food production is incompatible with the realities of nature, science and ethics, this lyrical narrative makes the case for a locally based food system that is:

Stable in the face of economic uncertainty

Resilient in the face of environmental variability

Grounded in stewardship of the land, on attaching value to food and the craft involved in producing it, and on respecting the dignity of farmers, consumers and livestock

A revolution in food production is underway. Written from the vantage point of an ecologist who is also a farmer, The Emergent Agriculture is essential reading for anyone interested in food security and the potential for growing local economies. It’s food for thought about the future of food.

The essential resource for modern homesteading, raising chickens, and growing and preserving foods, The Encyclopedia of Country Living covers how to cultivate a garden, buy land, bake bread, raise farm animals, make sausage, can peaches, milk a goat, grow herbs, churn butter, build a chicken coop, catch a pig, cook on a wood stove, and much, much more. This comprehensive resource is the most authoritative guide available to leading a sustainable lifestyle and living off of the land.

Carla Emery started writing The Encyclopedia of Country Living in 1969, during the back-to-the-land movement. She continued to add content and refine the information over the years, and the book went from a self-published mimeographed document to a book of 928 pages.

This 40th Anniversary Edition reflects the most up-to-date resource information and is the most personal version of the book that became Carla Emery's lifework. It remains the original manual of basic country skills that have proved essential and necessary for people living in the country, the city, and everywhere in between.

Recommendations For You

Recently Viewed

Satisfaction Guarantee

We stand by our products. If you are not fully satisfied at any time with your purchase, simply return the item and we will issue you a full refund. No questions asked. Shipping and handling is non-refundable.